What time do you make your dinner ADRs for?

[KTwiegs]

Just wondering if I should try and stick to our normally dinner time (6pm) or go earlier or later. We will be traveling with our 2 year old at the time and just wondering what other families do.
We would like to get some park time in post dinner.
thanks!

 

[disneygals10]

We usually make our dinner ADRs for around 5:30.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We usually schedule around 5:30 - 6:00 which is about the time we normally eat at home. But one thing to keep in mind if you're trying to stay to a schedule. Just because your ADR is at 6:00 doesn't mean you will definitely be seated by 6:00. Sometimes you will; sometimes it can be 20 minutes or so after. And also take into account it's like being at any restaurant (if you're doing sit down!). You get seated, wait for the waiter to come by, order drinks, give your dinner order, wait for your food. So an ADR at 6:00 and you may easily not be eating until 6:30 or later.

 

[Disneylover99]

The earlier, the better.....especially for buffets.
We find we don't have to wait as long with early ADR's.

 

[Kimosabe]

One big factor might be the time of year that you are there. If it's the heat of summer, then taking a break at lunch or early evening to get out of the sun for a while can seem like a great idea, regardless of what your usual schedule is at home....allowing you to shift some added park time to the evening, when things cool down at least a bit.

Our biggest factor tends to be our ten-year old's stomach. Mom, dad and 13-year old are all pretty flexible when it comes to eating times. But if the youngster gets hungry, she goes from Jekyl to Hyde (or whichever is good to bad!) and needs to be fed...which sometimes means eating just enough to hold her over, but then that turns out to be just enough that she's not hungry when "real" dinner is served, so she orders or eats very little and then is hungry again at 10:00 that night, wondering when we were going to feed her dinner. Ha!

 

[kandb]

5:30pm

 

[bbak30]

We tend to be all over the place. I have HDDR booked at 4pm, then 'Ohana at 7pm the next night. Depends on if we had a late night the night before and what others meals I have planned for that day. If we do a big breakfast, I'll usually book an earlier dinner. I'm fortunate that my kids are very flexible and don't need to stick to a schedule when it comes to meal times. They did when they were younger, but now that they are 6 and almost 10, it's a lot easier.
Now, my dad may have some issues--but I promised him he could snack all day!

 

[Dramatic Muffin]

I usually try to do a late lunch as our one big meal each day--usually around 2:00. Then we have a light counter service at the end of the day.


ETA: Oops, I just saw that you asked about dinner ADRs. I like off peak times, so for dinner I'd do 4:30 or 5:00.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We only have 1 dinner ADR and it's Be Our Guest at 8pm on a day we park hop from AK. We have late breakfast that morning, so late lunch then late dinner

 

[Hopefully]

With a 2 yo, the conventional wisdom is to try to stay close to normal schedules. If you eat at 6 at home I would schedule your evening ADR's for 5:30 or 6

 

[Dean Marino]

Well? I can say when WE do this - but we're 63 - no young children, and after multiple trips, not "Park Commandos" .

We book dinner at about 6:30 PM each night - gives us from about 11:00 to 3:30 in that day's park, with time to go back to the Hotel & change for dinner.

Now - if you have little ones and/or go to WDW about once every 10 years? This plan is SUICIDE . Only YOU will know what the members of your family desire in terms of park hours, vs. eating times .

 

[LookingForNeverland]

We always schedule our first ADR around noon. That gives us time to get up, get everyone ready and onto the restaurant in time to get without having to rush for something earlier. As for the evening; we try to eat late actually, around 9:00pm, that way we can enjoy the parks/parades/shows without having to run back and forth trying to get to restaurants.

Then, after we've eaten we just go back to the hotel and relax.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

I'd suggest making your ADR 15-30 minutes earlier than you normally eat, as it might take a while to get seated and order.

 

[L&Lfan]

We are two adult males who try to schedule our dinners around eight o' clock .

 

[amomma23]

We book a bit later than our usual dinner. At home lunch is small, like yogurt, fruit and nuts. We eat a full meal for lunch on the dining plan at Disney and find we aren't quite hungry at the normal time.

 

[lovin'fl]

Depends on time of year and when parks close. In the off-season they close earlier so we book ADRs early enough to do some park stuff after dinner or we book late enough to eat after parks are winding down. In the in-seasons we can do regular times and I like to do in the 6:30-7:30 range. We have an Ohana dinner for 9:35 and I am nervous about that one but we'll make it work. I also like to sometimes do lunch ADRs and counter service for dinner so we can break up the day.

 

[courtneybeth]

We will usually grab something between 7-8pm. We tend to not feel "hungry" while we're enjoying the fun of the parks so the dinners are a good reminder to eat.

Candlelight Processional is the only one that is super early for us. 445pm is almost like a late lunch!

 

[KTwiegs]

thanks for everyones insight! I really appreciate it. My husband and I are disney vets but now that we are going for the first with our son we feel like newbies again!
I'm going to stick with 5:30- 6 I think

 

[SouthJersey]

1:00 for Lunch
7:45 for Dinner

We'll adjust times for nights where we plan to see Wishes, Illuminations and Electrical Parade in the parks.

 

[lwc]

Park days:
7:30-8am breakfast
1-1:30pm lunch
7:30ish dinner

Rest days:
11ish lunch
5ish dinner